Comments

The first option is correct as posting a bank payment effectively is a double entry on Sage. i.e it will credit bank account and debit the bank charges (expense)

I do this at work and it is never a problem,

When you say it no longer balances...what is not balancing? It is not reconciling? How much are you out by?

Without seeing the actual figures it can be caused by any reasons. What was the position before you made this adjustment for bank charge and what is the position after the adjustment? Are you positive the problem is caused by your adjustment - can it be from another entry?

If I can somehow see the bank rec screen I may be able to spot the problem, along with the bank statement.

Key them via the adjust option in the bank Rec screen, or as a bank payment in the bank option. Or as a journal. All three are options (unless you use an ancient sage, around version 2008, in which case journals will not then show in a bank Rec (some businesses still use sage that old) so best practice use first two options.

As n4t suggests it's a wee bit hard to know what's happening without seeing something. Check you haven't double counted/double keyed it or just post a couple of pics with your question and sage screens

I will take a photo at college next week but for now this is what happened:

I entered all the information as per the practice test and the last task was the bank rec. I was doing it with a classmate, and he arrived at the same problem although we entered the information separately.

The task said "enter the bank charges and general rates on the bank statement into the bank and then reconcile the account with the bank statement (provided).

We went though and matched the bank transactions with what we had on the bank statement provided in the book and were left with a payment on account for £5000. this payment on account didn't match to anything on the bank statement but the reconciliation was out by £5000.

we then entered the bank charges of £18 and the rates of £130 using the "adjust" button and the bank rec was then out by £5148.

The opening balance of the bank account matched what the book said and the closing balance matched but in the book, the bank charges and the rates didn't cause a difference of £5148, it all came to zero! so confused!

I'm just on my way out to a clients, but what sage are you using? Why not download a free copy of that sage and use your months trial by having a go, again, at home. See what pops out this time. On the face of it, it sounds like there could be a fault on the sage you are using, but it's hard to know without seeing the screen shots. Let's see if you get the same again on a free trial copy. (Unless I've just read your post incorrectly in my rush!)

@jbousc are you able to take screenshots of the exercise incl. bank statement in the book? Possible the book may be incorrect. Which book are you using - have you looked on their website to check for corrections? I know Osborne publishes these online. Anyone in your class managed to reconcile?

Agree with @Casu you need to be obtaining a free trial version to practice at home unless you can use the college's computer several times a week. Maybe you are waiting to start the free trial to coincide with your exams?

When I was learning Sage 50 I purchased Sage instant to practice on. It was about £100 a couple of years ago and a good investment because learning to use Sage doesn't stop at passing the exam.

Thanks for all your help, i think there were some mistakes in the books!

Ive got my exam later today eekkk!!!

Im nervous about the upload part. I'm not actually 100% sure what I need to upload! is it obvious? Our tutor at college has pretty much left us to work it out and I'm comfortable with the actual entering of the information but not sure what documents i will be required to upload?

Do you get penalised if you upload more than 1 document for the question of you aren't sure which to give?